"Amy, I'm scared," Lola whimpers, grasping my hand tightly.

We climb the steps that lead to the Day-Care Center. Allison is walking besides us, holding Lola's other hand.

I smile down at the little girl. "Don't be; we're all here for you." I spot Tony a few feet away, waiting for us. "And so is he."

Lola leans in closer to me; I can feel her whole body shake. "W-who is he?"

"That's Tony," Allison explains. "He's our boss. And he's very nice. He won't hurt you."

Lola doesn't reply. Her grasp on our hands grow tighter when we stop in front of Tony.

"Hey, Tony," I say. "How are you?"

"Good. You?" he asks, being even more open and friendly than usual. I mentally shake my head. I know he's doing this for Lola (and I appreciate that), but he's going to overdo it. And he's going to look ludicrous.

"Good."

Tony looks at Allison. "Allison, the kids are already outside playing, can you make sure they're doing okay?"

Allison nods. "Sure. Bye, Lola. See you later, Amy." Allison leaves, entering the building.

Tony kneels down, getting closer to Lola.

Her hand starts to sweat like crazy.

Poor baby.

"Hello. You must be Lola." Tony carefully sticks out his hand, trying to be gentle in his movements.

Lola gulps. "Yes." She skeptically takes his hand.

Tony smiles. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tony." He lets go of her hand and stands up. "If any of you need anything-" he looks at Lola, then at me again, acknowledging us both, "-let me know."

"Yes, sir!" I say in a commanding tone, but the smile on my face shows that I'm teasing.

Tony nods, giving the affirmative before leaving. She sighs.

I give Lola's hand a small squeeze. "Let's go, sweetie." I slightly tug her arms, aiding her to the door.

"Amy, I-I'm still scared." Lola stays close to me. "What if they don't like me? What if they make fun of me? I-I don't know how to make friends."

I stop walking, looking down at her. "You and I are friends-that was easy."

Lola looks down. "But you're nice. I trust you. And you didn't force me to take off my mask."

I go down on my knees, taking hold of her arms in my hands. I rub them up and down. "If you want, we can go home. Like I said, we are here for you; we don't have to stay here. We can try again some other time."

Lola doesn't say anything, and I can tell she's thinking it over. I stay kneeled, waiting patiently.

"Hey, look! It's Ms. Amy!"

I look over to where the voice came from. Two boys start running in this direction. It's John and Michael; two very sweet boys who I'm very well acquainted with. How serendipitous.

"Hey, boys!" I grin widely at them. Lola shuffles behind me, trying to hide. They both pummel me into a hug, knocking me backwards. "Whoa!" I cry out. "Easy, easy."

They back away, grinning mischievously.

"Sorry, Ms. Amy," Michael says.

"Yeah, sorry," John copies. "We just missed you."

"I missed you, too." I say, feeling my heart warm at their comments. "Anything new been going on, lately?"

"No." Michael shakes his head. "It's been pretty boring without you and Ms. Allison."

They like to put the prefix 'Ms.'; I don't know why, they just do it. And it's only these two that do. It's just a little quirk of theirs.

"Who is that, Ms. Amy?" John says, peeking behind my back.

Lola grabs my shirt, whimpering.

"This," I reach back and take a petrified Lola into my arms, "is Lola. She's a dear friend of mine."

Michael and John both look at her.

Please prove to be the nice boys I think you are, I pray.

"Hi," Lola softly whispers.

"Hello." Both boys speak at the same time.

"Cool mask." John comments.

"Yeah, you look like a superhero!" Michael pumps a fist in the air. "Superhero's are totally cool!"

The corners of Lola's lips turn up. She starts to look more comfortable. "Thanks."

"Boys," I say, getting an idea. "Do you think you can take Lola and show her around?"

They both nod. "Sure!"

Lola looks back at me nervously.

"Be nice to her," I warn.

"We will!" Michael yells, grabbing Lola's arm. "Come on, we'll show you where we play."

Lola looks at her arm in surprise. "O-Okay."

"It's really neat! There's this huge play structure, and swings, and sand, and..." Their voices doze off as they run outside.

I scratch my head, groaning as I stand back up. I hope everything goes okay. Of course, everything is going to be okay! They are good kids… Well, I guess I better go outside and watch them, just in case.

Somehow, I get involved with every kid there, and start playing with them.

After about an hour, I need to stop, feeling out of breath and over-exerted. Being pregnant really tires you out faster. I sit on a bench on the side, taking deep breaths. I watch Lola running around with John, Michael, and a few other kids. Look like she's getting along great. I'm happy for her.

"Hey, Ames." Allison sits next to me.

"Hey." I scoot over to give her some room. "Where've you been?"

"In the art room. I'll be going back in a second, I just needed a-" she holds up a water bottle, "-water break."

"Understandable."

Allison takes a sip, nodding toward the play structure. "How's Lola?"

"She's been doing really well, actually. And Karla and Dan have been keeping a good eye on her." Karla and Dan are two other faithful co-workers. I trust and depend on them a lot.

"That's good." Allison takes another sip. "I'm so glad Lola is getting along, she deserves this."

I nod, agreeing. She does deserve this.

Allison takes her last sip. "Well, I better go." She gets up, releasing a small burp.

I scoff. "I'm so glad you shared that little piece with me."

Allison laughs. "My pleasure. See you later, honey."

"At least you didn't do that in front of the kids, you'd have to actually say 'excuse me'!" I yell out to her.

"Au revoir!" She says, blatantly.

I shake my head. Oh, Allison.

I sit there quietly, watching the kids laugh, play, sometimes fall, then pick themselves up again.

A hand taps my shoulder. "Amy."

"Hey, Tony, what's up?"

"There's someone in the office for you."

I raise my eyebrows. "For me?"

He nods.

"Okay."

I walk with Tony to his office, leaving Lola behind. We enter his office and I stop, my footing disturbed by sudden surprise.

No way...he couldn't have known.

"What the hell were you THINKING?!" Erik looks at me with seething rage.

My jaw drops to the floor. I don't say anything. Wha-how? What?!

Tony looks at the both of us. "I...I think I'll just leave the two of you alone." With that, he shuts the door. Now I am trapped in a small cubical office with a pissed-off looking Erik.

He glares at me, his glare as hot as the sun. I feel like a fly underneath a magnifying glass.

I decide to speak first. "Hello." I sound weak, cautious. And for good reason! I don't know what to expect. All I know is that I am in a lot of trouble.

And Allison! My mind tells me. Allison and I are in a lot of trouble.

Erik's whole body is tense. His arms are crossed, his fists are balled up, and a vein is poking out of his neck. He's never looked scarier.

He shakes his head erratically."What were you thinking?"

I decide to play innocent. "What?"

I am so dead. I am so dead. I am so dead.

I am FREAKING out!

"'What'?" he mocks. "'What'? I'll tell you 'what'. We had a lesson today."

I cringe. Crap. I completely forgot. My hands cup my mouth. "Erik, I am so s-"

"So," Erik interrupts. I shut my mouth, not daring to push it. "I came for our appointment, ready for our lesson. No one answered the door. Wondering if something happened, I decided to call Allison. She tells me that she's at work and you're there with her. She apologized, said a lot was going on this week and forgot all about our lesson." He shrugs, as if shaking it off. "No problem; People forget. Although, I don't want that to happen ever again..." Erik deadpans.

Dammit, Allison! You were with me not to long ago. Why didn't you tell me he called?!

Closing my eyes, I release a breath. "Erik-" I start.

He holds up his hand, making me shut up. "Don't talk," he starts. "Then I thought, 'why not go see Lola? maybe she wants to go get an ice cream'."

Okay, even though I'm terrified right now, I can't help but have my heart melt at that statement.

"And what do I discover? Let me tell you," Erik takes two steps closer to me. I take a step back, my back bumping against the door. "She's gone; some red-headed woman took her."

Nice euphemism, I snap in my head. I bet the word 'bitch' was used originally.

Erik continues to take slow, tantalizing steps towards me. I want to be the door, anything but me. His predatory movements are agony to my mind. I gulp. What's he going to do?

Erik takes one final step and is now only a foot away from me. "I panic at first, unable to figure out who this red-haired woman could be. And knowing her parents, they'd let her go with anyone. Then an image came to mind. And all it took were these words to come into mind: Amy, day-care, crazy ideas." Erik leans down, we are now eye-to-eye.

Ouch. But it's true. I have been saying that my plans are coming from the "crazy-pregnant lady" for quite a while now.

"I can't believe you would do this!" Erik places both hands on either side of my face. "I trusted you to take care of her. And I was starting to trust you." He sighs and rubs his eyes.

I cringe, feeling ashamed. "Erik, I'm sorry you feel this way." I gaze into his eyes. He's looking back at me, but his eyes are soft, not as hard as before. "That wasn't my intention, truly."

"You took her to a place where there are a bunch of people...she could get hurt," he whispers urgently to me. "That's a huge problem."

"Look, Erik, let me tell you what I was thinking. I had a plan-"

Erik pushes himself off the door, angry again. "There we go with the plan thing!"

I know this isn't the best time-actually, it's horrible timing-but as Erik continues to talk about his frustrations, his fears...I can't help but observe him. Absorb him. I am on high alert, and am watching all of him. His words go flying out the window, and all I can hear is the passion-his anger, his worries, his confusion-in his voice as I watch him.

Erik is the kind of man who is passionate (even compassionate), but scared to show it-fearful to show any emotion because he's been hurt too much in his life. He's protective, talented, artistic, and he cares, truly cares.

Now if I think about it, Jack never truly cared about anything.

Unlike Erik.

I observe Erik's clothing-his long, black jacket, black pants, and dark brown button-down shirt-I realize then how attractive he really is. My heart pumps faster and my blood turns to fire.

"Amy! Amy? Are you listening to me?" Erik's voice booms.

I look at him as Erik's rage overpowers him.

"Never do this again! Do you hear me?" he asks.

Time to take my stand again. "Erik, please listen to what I have to say-"

"No!"

"I need to explain why-"

"I don't need any explanation!" he yells . "You betrayed my trust!"

I feel tears come into my eyes. That hurt me, but I also realize something at the same time: He's never going to listen to me, at least not while he's riled up like this.

So, I do what my hormones and mind tell me to do, hoping this might get him to shut up and actually listen to my explanation.

Determination takes hold of my features as I grab a fistful of Erik's shirt. I yank him down and kiss him full on the lips.

And...maybe, just maybe, I did this because I wanted to...